honeychild and the pearl queen
by marapozsa
Summary: Balthier/Fran, Balthier/Ashe. "We are not who our ancestors deem we are. To have belief in oneself is to claim one's identity."


_honey-child and the pearl queen_

by marapozsa.

Bugger. Haven't written in a while. This isn't so great, I'm insanely rusty, but, er, enjoy. Fran, Balthier, Ashe.

--

_1painting_

In battle he sees her as a smear of grey and gold, like plating or paint - he sees her vibrant with the red blood of vermin, as she raises her weapon and coaxes fear into their doomed hearts.

_2stars_

"We have forgotten how to speak the language of the stars," she says; longing makes her weary, Balthier regrets having brought it up.

_3question_

Viera, Balthier learns, lack the passion of short-lived humes, but he knows Fran is strange, and inquires very little into her hunger for novelty.

_4sunshine_

Her eyes see colors humes could never dream of, so she knows well sunshine is no shade of yellow: it is the clear glimpse of desire in Balthier's eyes, warm and ravenous as he leans in to kiss the hollow of her throat, the thought of a new conquest as she turns away and he chases.

_5lady_

"You are mine," his groans form words and she loses all composure - she doesn't mind being owned, only commanded; the next morning, he has bruises and she smells his blood on her fingernails, and they pilot in silence above the sea.

_6space_

In her room she keeps a small brushwood box underneath her mattress; through the years she has become more hume-like, readily keeping mementos: letters he has written, old rings he has discarded, paper on which she writes of things he has done or said - Fran hopes she will not become too attached to her little antiques (or to him), but then she makes room in the box for a lock of his hair and she knows the cause is lost.

_7dream_

"There is always a price - to lay with me is to forfeit your future," she says; he doesn't take her seriously - nor does she when he replies, meeting her eyes, "Gladly."

_8hours_

When he was younger, a seedling on the cusp of becoming a man, he had nightmares of his father, and Fran stood watch by his side, waiting to clasp his head in her arms (however awkwardly) and coax the bad spirits from his blood.

_9october_

"In Eruyt the nights will be growing long and cool," Fran comments nonchalantly, and Balthier counters, "In Archades winter is colder than in Eruyt, and we have more snow."

_10fight_

She is in a battle for her heart - and every glance he makes in her direction, every casual comment from his lips, means that she is losing.

_11strange_

Few viera have hair like hers; to humes, it is silver and glows in the moonlight, an alien beacon; to viera, it is dazzling and the color of the tree-fruit from which viera come, a holy blessing; to Balthier, it is strange and says that she is too old to love him, and too terrible to be beautiful.

_12running_

The trees say she was born running, the tree-fruit that tore in two and became Fran, that they knew at once from her strong legs and bright eyes she was not wholly one of them but something far greater - and now that she has come back, with her hume partner and her smell of iron and smoke in tow, they rejoice and forget she can no longer hear them.

_13curse_

Smelling of sweat and gunpowder, his hair gets caught in her mouth as she cries out, and she can feel his smirk as he presses fierce kisses to her skin.

_14midnight_

"Back so soon?" she wants to ask him - but then, she cannot fault him for their seasonal trips to Rabanastre, the way he comes and goes at ungodly hours, the way he cries and calls out Ashe's name when he's drunk, the way he loves their queen and has no room left for her - there is only sadness and old age and a cold bed for her now.

_15blossom_

She has watched him grow old: watched the small arrogant boy grow taller and yet never grow up, watched him fancy himself in love with her, watched him fight and laugh and cry, watched his shoulders bow and his hair lose color - and all the while he has been watching her watching him, and knows better the affection in her gaze than she does.

_16age_

One live is of no consequence in the dance of the world - no man may claim importance, no viera significance - but she is not that dance, not that world, and Balthier is not simply one man, but the only one, and now that Fran has known him, she will want no other.

_17revenge_

The nightmares of his youth return on his death-bed and Balthier chuckles madly, clasping Fran's hands and saying, "I suppose this is his way of getting back at me."

_18half-life_

Sometimes Fran thinks she would not mind growing old with Balthier - but for her, to be a hume is to stop being the person he sees through lidded eyes of admiration, to stop painting her enemies in blood, to lose the ability to fight and defend and hold - and she cannot afford the price of humanity, not anymore.

_19wishes_

"They say if you beat her she'll grant you your heart's desire," and she asks "And the thing you desire most, Balthier? For what gain would you defeat this goddess?" and she expects him to say fame, treasure, women, and he replies "You."

_20aquarius_

Water is scarce in the desert, and Balthier decides, if it comes down to it, he will give his to Fran rather than let her die such an unheroic death.

_21world_

"So much we have yet to see," she says, her tone that of persuasion as he sits down on a rock, and refuses to go a step further until he gets the Sandsea out of his shoes.

_22fever_

Viera grow ill easily and painfully; Fran suffers, and Balthier holds her, wiping cold sweat off her brow, bathing her dark limbs in lakewater and lilies and delicate gestures of affection ("Ah, we've both grown soft, Fran," he says).

_23skeletons_

If they walk, Fran tears them apart; if they sleep, Balthier only needs to be present to stir them up.

_24wolf_

He bites and thrusts and scrapes and for Fran, this is alright - viera do not scar, but he can try; the pain and pleasure will eat her up, while her talons on his ribs delve into his flesh.

_25enemy_

Balthier smells of smoke like many others of Archades, which she hisses at initially (smoke reminds her of trees, trees on fire and burning) but learns to accept, once it has crawled under her skin and enveloped her old scent of morning dew and tree sap.

_26bribes_

"There are some things you cannot bargain for," he is told, and he would trust her in this were it not so difficult for him to believe.

_27marketplace_

He leaves the haggling of stolen goods to her whenever possible - there is something intimidating about her gaze, and something trustworthy in the way she always gets the price she asks for.

_28reunion_

In Eruyt she offers no greetings; she is not seen or heard by the quietly murmuring viera - except for Balthier's hand on her shoulder, she lacks the ability to exist at all.

_29captivity_

He thinks her free to leave - he has not yet realized she is not willing to, and has no hidden desire to leave him behind once he grows old.

_30butterfly_

When he was younger, he killed one and Fran pursed her lips in disapproval but said nothing of how much the beautiful fleeting thing was like him.

_31town_

Nalbina sickens her, with its weeping walls and pavestones that ring with the cries of swords and hate - Balthier notes and does not visit often without need, afraid he will bring the taint into their bed and upset her.

_32maiden_

"Viera do not love easily, but you are not the first," she says bluntly; he is hurt, replying, "But I am the best, aren't I?" and she opens her arms for him in reassurance.

_33forecast_

"The air is uneasy," she tells him, eyes shrouded in worry, "the particles of the earth stand ready to tear apart, the Mist has a rank scent, like rot," in summary, she says everything but that she does not think he should go.

_34wraith_

"Ghosts," he sneers, a heady child of seventeen, "they don't exist," she replies sadly, "They are real for us alone. And we alone have the power to snuff them out."

_35pretend_

He loves Ashe the queen in a way he cannot love her, but she cannot blame him for having so much love (however hidden) that he must find more than one partner to give it away to.

_36peace_

"Too boring," he grunts, and she manages a small smile, soothes him and tells him, "Soon enough we will have the _Strahl_, and boredom will flee from your thoughts."

_37himself_

"I don't look anything like my father," he says flatly; she agrees wordlessly, puts a hand on his shoulder and lets his quiet sobs sweep the silence.

_38dance_

Archadians have a dance called the waltz, exceedingly slow and formal; the battlefield is too quick for that tune, too brutal for dancing, just the twang of Fran's bow and the shuffle of Balthier's feet as he fires.

_39monarch_

"There is no wrong in loving a queen," she assures him, and does not wait for him to tell her it's not the queen he loves - he does, and it is a deep, blinding love she never realized he could feel.

_40changeling_

"We are not who our ancestors deem we are. To have belief in oneself is to claim one's identity."

_41saltwater_

He takes to water like a fish and pulls her in with him, hair splayed over water and matted into eyes as he laughs and she sputters in panic: viera do not swim.

_42marsh_

"My god, Fran, it's almost better than the stuff you find in Bhujerba," he says in wonder, offering his partner the bottle, and they unite over Marsh King's Daughter brew.

_43gate_

The drone of Mist in her ears grows to throaty screams in Giruvegan; she shuts it out, writes it off, then in the Great Crystal when Balthier falls, the floodgate opens and she sees gold and falls with him.

_44vertical_

He has her against the wall; like a wave his scent and sheer desire engulfs her - when they comes to they are naked and tangled together on his desk with all his things thrown to the floor and he is covered in scratches and she in bite marks and they are content.

_45rooster_

For Balthier it is not bragging to say he is the leading man - for Balthier, bragging is to say that Fran is his, that without Fran he could bear to see the rise of another dawn.

_46throne_

Seeing Ashe attempt to fly their ship hardly fazes Fran - but Balthier sees red for a moment and the princess' escape attempt fails, because the seat she'd been trying to usurp belonged to a different woman.

_47flock_

"They are restless," Fran states curtly while Balthier raises his gun and aims for the birds above them, ignoring the direction from which they have come.

_48west_

"Dalmasca" - Ashe, it remains unsaid - "isn't to my taste right now," he says languidly for explanation when he requests Fran set a course for Rozzaria.

_49exodus_

And from Archades they flee, their new ship in tow and their hands clasped together in the companionship of two people who have almost died together.

_50wings_

They say that once the humes had wings of white and breathed Mist rather than air; Balthier, with a viera partner and a ship of metal, feels that when he pilots the _Strahl_, he has rediscovered the humes' old talent.


End file.
